In mid-September, Paris was the meeting point of the European retail industry: from 15 to 17 September 2026, NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show Europe took place at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. We were there — and we are heading back to Lübeck with plenty of impressions.
The show ran under the motto “The Next Now”. According to the organisers, more than 12,000 professionals from over 60 countries were expected. You can find all the details on the official NRF Big Show Europe website.
Plenty of new discoveries
Three days of talks, exhibition and exchange: we discovered many inspiring things and took home a lot of ideas. What stands out is how much is in motion in retail right now. Among other things, the programme revolved around these topics:
- Agentic AI and customer service
- Demand forecasting and personalisation
- Community and influencers
- Licensing, IP and new business models
- Retail media
According to the organisers, there were also more than 100 sessions with around 200 speakers, plus a startup area and a pavilion for young companies showing new ideas for retail. The programme alone shows that retail is in the middle of a shift, and a central question is how technology can be woven sensibly into everyday life in the store and at the checkout.
Good conversations with the people behind it
Almost more valuable than any presentation were the encounters. We had a very good exchange with people from retail and technology — open, curious and on equal footing. Conversations like these show where the pain points are in everyday operations and which solutions are really needed.
What we take back to our work
At DATO-IT we deal every day with the technology behind modern sales spaces: 24/7 smart stores with our AI platform Sentra, self-checkout and reliable networks that day-to-day operations can count on. Seeing how intensively the industry is engaging with AI and new ways of shopping reinforces our path — and gives us fresh input for the projects we carry out with our customers.
Whether it is AI in customer service, personalised offers or new ways to pay: in the end, what counts is that technology in the store works reliably and simply. That holds for large supermarkets just as much as for small, autonomous shops with no staff on site. That is exactly what we keep working on — and we are glad that Paris gave us so many fresh impulses for it.
Curious what a shop that is open around the clock could look like for you? Learn more about our 24/7 shop container. Or simply get in touch — we look forward to your message.
Image credits: cover — Pedro Kümmel / Unsplash (CC0); Paris Expo Porte de Versailles — Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, cropped; self-checkout stations — Bdx (CC0).